It is impossible for me to fathom the extent of the losses suffered at any battle. However, the numbers lost during the Battle of Kursk are beyond what I can envision. Along with this same thought, I cannot imagine the extensive numbers of military armors, such as the 2400 Soviet tanks, that put to use in this battle. I also thought it was interesting as to the attacks and counterattacks performed. The Germans delayed the attack allowing the Russians time to regroup and prepare their strategies. It was apparent from the presentation that the Russian army had developed better plans in being able to turn from defensive to offensive and drive the Russians back.
I, personally, had never heard of the Rzhev Pocket before the presentation. It was interesting to note that Rzhev was seen as a “dagger aimed at Moscow.” It seems strange that if this was the site of a major battle during the war, more detailed information would have been written about it. However, as pointed out during the presentation, it was amazing how quickly the Russian Army was pulled together and the strength that it provided when mobilized into action.
1 comment:
Indeed, the scale at which the battles on the Eastern Front were fought are quite incomprehensible to most people today, used to the small unit action wars that have been fought more recently such as Vietnam and Iraq. Certainly there were massive battles, but simply not on a scale of what was presented on Wednesday.
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